Woodhouses Bastle is a Grade II Listed Building near Harbottle in Northumberland (Ordnance Survey Grid reference NT 96582 00288). The bastle is likely 15th century in date, though the date stone (thought now to be a later insert) suggests AD 1602 (the beginning of the 17th century).
On the 11th June 2011, the Otherworld North East team undertook a field investigation at Thirlwall Castle, Greenhead, Northumberland, on behalf of the Northumberland National Park Authority.
The fieldwork was undertaken to examine claims of alleged paranormal activity within the ruins of the medieval castle. The reported activity revolved around stones being thrown, music and voices being heard and the feeling of being touched by unseen hands. Two items of local folklore were also found to bear relevance to Thirlwall. These claims were investigated using a number of data-collection surveys, including video, photography, radio frequency testing, electromagnetic field detection, structural surveys and wildlife detection.
At the time of writing this article, we’re coming to the end of Covid-19 Lockdown Week #9 which started on the 23rd March 2020 in the UK. Since lockdown began, there has (allegedly) been a marked increase of reports of paranormal activity, which many in the ‘paranormal community’ put down to the increase in time spent in our homes, and the shift from a work-centred focus to that of brains looking for something to do. So in basic terms, because many people who are used to busy workcentric lives are either furloughed or unemployed now, they’re restricted to their homes and they’re simply starting to notice more…
On the 26th April 2003, I found myself driving up the A1 in Northumberland, heading for my first ghost investigation. I’d had an interest in oddities and ‘things that go bump in the night’ since my teens, but after that first investigation at Chillingham Castle with UK Ghost Investigators, I was hooked. In May of that same year the first incarnation of the Otherworld North East website went online… and now, 17 years later this new version is hitting the Interweb.
